Abigail Adams, the wife of one president and mother of another, is perhaps the most well-read and well-educated of all of the Founder's wives. Articulate, (though self-admittedly not a great speller) staunchly Christian, patriotic, and true, Abigail Adams left us an incredible legacy of private letters allowing us a glimpse of Colonial life through a woman's eyes; and more than that, through the eyes of a Colonial woman deeply in love with a husband who loved and respected her most for her intelligence, and well as for her many other sterling qualities.

STEP ONE:
Read,
The Letters of John and Abigal Adams
with forward and introduction by William J. Bennet
(available in local bookstores and libraries)

AND:
Read one or more of the Abigal Adams biographies listed below:

Abigail Adams by Janet Whitney (1947) (and adult-level book vailable at local libraries)

Abigal Adams by Evelyn Witter (a childrens' book of the Mott Media Sowers Series, available at: www.mottmedia.com)

Abigail Adams
A Girl of Colonial Days
by Jean Brown Wagoner (1949) (a children's level book available in local libraries)

STEP TWO:
Write (or tape, or video tape) one letter per day to Abigail Adams for a period of one month/
In your letter, tell Abigail all about America today, contrasting Colonial life with today's life; tell her how we have done on upholding the Costitution and the vision of the Founding Fathers. Also, tell her about your life as an American girl or woman and how it resembles and how it differs from her life in early America.

After letting your Activities Director see them, tie your letters up with ribbon and save them; in ten years, read them again, and see if you still feel the same about what you wrote to Abigail this month.

If you find that this project would be useful to you at school, feel free to turn it in as a finished project there as well, providing you can first show your Activities Director, and keep a finished copy for your ten-year-reunion with your letters.